Grain door



ch 14, 11924. mug v E. POSSON GRAIN DOOR- Filed May 16. 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 @mr. M 1924.

E. POSSON GRAIN DOOR Filed May, 16. 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Ti g 2 E. POSSON GRAIN DOOR 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Filed May 16.

Patented Get. 14., 1924..

EDJVARD POSSON, 02F CHICAGG. ILLENOIS, AbSIGNOR OF Olbl'E-HALF T0 FREDERICK G. MAEGLY, O CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GRAIN DOOR.

Application filed May 16,

T 0 all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD Posson, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain Doors, of which the following is a specification.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved sectional grain door. in whichthe door sections travel in guideways and are supported in operative position by brackets or hangers. The principal object of the invention is to provide a grain door comprising a plurality of relatively narrow sections adapted to be supported in inoperative position above the door opening without interfering substantially with said opening. Another object is to provide a sectional. grain door in combination with improved means for preventing the hinding of the door sections in the guideways. Still another feature is the provision of an improved guideway and connecting bracket for supporting the door sections. Still an other object is toprovide improved means for connecting the door sections with. the guideways in order to permit a free move ment of the door sections while providing a grain tight closure. Other objects relate to various features of construction and arrangement, which will appear more clearly hereinafter.

The nature of the inventionwill be understood from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawings, in

which one embodiment is illustrated.

In the drawings-- 1 Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sec tion through the interior of a car showing a side elevation of my improved sectional grain door in closing position:

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the grain door in open position viewed from the interior of the car;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1, showing the means for mounting the supporting brackets;

Fig. 4; is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 4:4C of Fig. 2, showing the door sections in open posit-ion.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 4E. showing the door sections in closed position; 1

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevation of one corner of door section, showing the 1919; Serial No. 297,537.

means for connecting the door section with one of the guideways';

Fig. 7 1S a sectional v ew taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view through one of the guideways taken on the line 88 of Fig. 4;

of one of the guideways taken on the line 7 ll-11 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 12 shows a perspective view of two of the complementary parts of the vertical guideway.

The inventlon is illustrated in COIlI16C- 7 tion with a railway car comprising a side wall 15, a floor 16, and a roof 17 carried by the transverse frame members 18. l A door opening is formed through the side wall 15,,-

and door posts 19 extend vertically along each side'of the door opening between the floor 20 and the frame member 21. which extends across the upper part of the door opening. The inside sheathing 22 is secured to the door postswithin the car, and door 35 jambs 23 extend vertically along the inner sides of the door posts and overlap the ends of the sheathing, as illustrated in Fig. 7.

The grain door is formed of a plurality of complementary door sections 25, which preferably have their body portions formed of wooden'members 25 covered by layers of sheet metal 25*. The metal sheathing issecured to the wooden. body portions of the door sections by rivets 26, and each door section is provided on its inner and outer sides. at opposite sides of the center thereof, with hand-holds 27. The door sections are provided with interfitting flanges and re-,

.oesses 211011,Q' 'tl16l1 contacting edges for forming grain-tight connections. The ends of the door sections 25 are adapted to engage gnideways 28, which are secured to the door posts 19 by screws 29, and'which coact with the vertical faces of the door jambs 23, forming continuations of the members 23 as shown in Fig. 7 .v The guideways 28 are formed preferably of metal, with oppositely disposed vertical walls 30 and 31, which-are l spaced apart to receive the ends of the door ice I vided' with inwardly extending Vertical flanges 32, which are spaced from the ends of the door'secti'ons, and which have a ver t-ical slot 33 between them adapted to re 6 ceive the guiding lugs or bolts 34, which i are carried by the sections of the door.

"Eaclrbolt or lug 34 has an enlarged circularhead 34, which is adapted to travel 1n the under-cut groove or recess 33? which is formed between the vertical flanges 32 and the end wall of the guideway, as illustrated particularly in Figs. 6 and T.

lguidingbolts 34 are slidably mounted in cylindrical recesses 36, Which extend inwardly from the ends of each door section adjacent the upper corners thereof. These recessesare formed preferably in metalhc members 37, which are mounted between the opposite-layers of the metal sheathing 25" ,and form continuations of the wooden portions 25 Each of the members 34 is provided with a longitudinal slot 34 between its ends, and this slot is engaged by one of t the rivets 26, so that relative movement of each bolt 34 is permitted longitudinally of the door section, altho gh the complete replementary parts, as illustrated particularly inFigsfQ, 9,an d 12. The inner wall 30 of each part is provided with a rectangular notchor recess '38 at one end and a corresponding rectangularproject-ion 38 at the 'other'end, theprojection at one endof one part being'adapted to engage thez'recess at the adjacent'end of the other part, thereby "preventing relative lateral movement of the complementary parts of the guideways. Relative movement of the complementary 7 parts of the guideways transversely of the car 1s, prevented by securely fastening the guideways to the vertical faces of the door previously These screws engage apertures The edges of the outer walls 31 oftheguideways are provided with f door sections when they 6O distance below the upper edge of the door "opening each guid w notches 4 0 in alinement with the holes 29 through the walls 30 to permit the insertion of tliescrews'23. I

. The Lupper section of eachguideway is provided with an angularly disposed part 41 whichserves as a bracket to support the are in inoperative position adjacentthe roof of the car. I A short is. provided with an extending plate or flange 42, which is, ineffecha continuation of the inwardly "extendingfiange .32 preyiously described.

The 1 The projecting portion of the outer wall 31 is carried out in an inclined direction along the edge of the plate 42, forming a flange 43 adapted to engage the lower edges of the door sections as they pass out of or into the vertical portions of the guideways. The guideway for the bolts 34 extends upwardly beyond the plate 42, is inclined upwardly and toward the center of the car from the point 44, and has an upward projection at the point 45. From the point 45 the slot 33, between the flanges 32, extends upwardly and inwardly toward the center of the car, being closed at its end by a flange 46. The flange 46 extends downwardly below the slot 33to engage the uppermost door section, as shown in Fig. 4, and each flange 46 is reinforced by a web 47. The innermost ends of the guideways at opposite ends of the door opening are prevented from spreading longitudinally of the car by a. tie-rod 49. wh1ch extends through the ends of the guideways and .is engaged byvnuts Inclined braces 51 extend from the ends of the tie-rod to the side walls of the car, where they are secured in position by bolts 52. The end walls-of the brackets are GK- tended upwardly as plates 53 terminating in' transverse flanges 54 adapted to seat against the side plate and transverse inemhers 18 of the car. The brackets are socured by bolts 55 extending through the side plates, and they may also be secured to the members 18. i

in passing the door sections from the vertical portions of the guideways to the brackets 41, the heads 34 of the guiding bolts travel in the guides or recesses 29 between the flanges 32 and the end walls 35 of the guideways until the points 45 are reached, where the bolts pass over the humps in the guideways, and then rest in the substantially horizontal or slightly inclined portion which forms the bracket 41. After passin over thehumps 45, the bolts are prevented from returningaccidentally to the vertical portion of the guideway, and the door section is thus held in inoperative position adjacent the roof of the car. As the bolts 34 pass upwardly beyond the points 44 the lower edges of the door sections automatically pass inwardly between the plates 42 and above the inclined guide flanges 43, which form guide chutes for the door sections. hen it is desired to lower the door sections they are pushed upwardly to elevate the bolts 34 over the humps 45, and the lower edges are guided into position above the guide flanges 43, whereupon each door section automatically falls to its proper door-closing position, with theends of the door section proper extending between the walls 30 and 31 of the guideways to form a grain-tight closure. To prevent binding of the door sections in the guideways the ends of the door sections terminate short of the flanges 32, so that tilting of the door, sections will not cause a binding thereof between the flanges 32 carried by the opposite guideways. The clearance between the flanges 32 and the ends of the door sections permits longitudinal relative movement of the door sections with respect to the guideways, and during this movement the door sections slide on the guiding bolts 84, which are capable of relative movement longitudinally of the door sections, as previously described. The heads 34 of the bolts 34 loosely engage the vertical undercut grooves 33" of the guideways, so that binding of the heads 34: in these grooves is prevented. This construction has the advantage that the removal of the door sections from the car is positively prevented, while at the same time the free vertical movement of the door sections in the guideways is permitted without binding. This invention makes it possible to use a large number of complementary door sections of relatively narrow width, so that the head room or space beneath the upper frame member 21 of the door opening is not interfered with by the depending door sections carried by the supporting brackets.

This invention has the advantage that the door sections embodied in the grain door may be raised or lowered from the outside or from the inside of the car, and this may be done when the car is empty during the process of loading, after the loading of the car is completed or to permit a person to enter the car for the purpose of inspecting its contents. When elevated into the supporting brackets, the door sections do not interfere with the door opening, so that they are not liable to be damaged by the loading or unloading of the car or by the movements of the goods within the car during its travel. By constructing the door sections with wooden fillers and metal jackets, they are made as durableas metal door sections, but they have the advantage of being much lighter in weight and capable of being more easily operated by one man. These door sections can be attachedto a door-way of any height or width, which is an advantage not present in other grain doors. All of the sections are alike, so that if any of the sections becomes broken it can be immediately replaced by another section of the same design which may be inserted anywhere in the series of door sections.

Although I have shown and described a certain embodiment of the invention for purposes of illustration, it will be under stood that it may be constructed in various other forms without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

. What I claim is:

1. The combination in a railway car, of a wall having a door opening therein, guide-- ways along the opposite edges of said door opening, a plurality of complementary door sections, and lugs engaging said guideways and movably mounted on said door sections for longitudinal travel in the planes of the door sections.

2. The combination in a railway car, of a wall having a door opening therein, guide ways along the opposite edges of said door opening, a plurality of complementary door sections, said door sections being recessed inwardly from their ends, and lugs slidably mounted in said recesses and engaging said guideways.

3. The combination in a railway car of a wall having a door opening therein, a plurality of complementary door sections, guideways extending along the vertical edges of said door opening throughout the height of said opening to receive the ends of said door sections, supplementary guideways extending vertically adjacent said first named guideways, and lugs movably mounted on said door sections and engaging said supplementary guideways, said first named guideways terminating adjacent the upper part of said door opening in transverse brackets adapted to support all of said door sections in close proximity to the upper part of said door opening whereby all of said sections are capable of being moved from said brackets into said vertical guide-- ways by an operator located on the outside of said car.

4. The combination in a railway car of a wall having a door opening therein, slotted guide members extending vertically along the edges of said door opening, a plurality of complementary door sections, lugs carried by the ends of said door sections and engaging the slots in said guide members, said lugs terminating in parts of greater width than the said slots, and flanges formed integrally with said guide members and projecting therefrom at the sides of said slots to form guideways to receive the ends of said door sections.

5. The combination in a railway car, of a wall having door openings therein, slotted guide members extending vertically along the edges of said door opening, a plurality of complementary door sections, lugs carried by the ends of said door sections and engaging the slots in said guide members, said lugs terminating in parts of greater width than said slots, and flanges carried by said guide members to receive the ends of said door sections. said flanges terminating adjacent the upper part of said door opening in outwardly directed chutes adapted to guide the lower edges of said door sections, said grooved guide members being continued upwardly from said flanges and extended transversely of the car to form supporting bracket-s.

till

6 The combination in a railway car, of a Wallohaving a door opening therein, a plurality of compielnentaiy door sections,do0r posts extending along the vertical edges of said door opening, vertical guide members secured to said door posts and having Wall adapted to coaot with parts carriedby said door sections, said guideways being formed in'comp lementary sections having interlocking pa-r't sattheir ends, flanges extending outwardly from said guide members and secured to said door posts, and door ja-mbs overlying" said flanges and secured to said door posts.

In testimony whereof, Ihzwe subscribed my name.

EDWARD POSSON. 

